One more cup of coffee

Turnout

It took me 50 minutes to vote this morning. There were a LOT of people in line. I've never had to wait this long before.

Hopefully we'll actually know the results of the presidential race tonight. My fear is that it will drag on a month like last time.

Prelude to a recount

The Daily Show is probably one of the more entertaining ways to watch the election results tonight.

Best exchange so far:

"The President is thrilled that he will be leading the country for the next four years."

"It's a little early for that, isn't it? The numbers aren't really in yet."

"Numbers? Jon, this is not a man who is going to let the 'numbers' stand in the way of moving America forward!"

Driving home, I listened to someone on NPR talking about the division between Kerry and Bush supporters, and how voters who put values first support Bush. This drives me crazy. How can this possibly be?

Zell doesn't count

CNN and MSNBC are reporting that Republicans have picked up a senate seat by winning the position being vacated by Georgia Senator Zell Miller.

Zell Miller counts as a Democrat? Please. He's been hanging out with the Republicans for years now.

Last thought of the night

You know that something is wrong with journalism in America today when one of the most rational sounding persons talking about the election results on TV is Pat Buchanan.

And with that, I am going to bed. It's obvious that we won't know who the next President will be for a while.

Everything's just fine here

Leigh forwarded me a poll from CNN showing that, "Americans by and large appear to be happy with the results of Tuesday's elections and are hopeful the country will be drawn together during President Bush's second term."

That reminds me of this exit poll I saw once ... let's see, when was that? Oh, right, it was two days ago. The one that showed that Kerry was going to take Ohio.

Those polls are really something, aren't they?

Spam

Spam emails I received in September: 2552

In October: 3126

Spam blog comments blocked by MT-Blacklist in September: 1886.

In October: 4599.

Arrrrgggggghhhhhh.

Just a few more hours...

The Microsoft company store usually sells MS software titles, including Microsoft Game Studios Xbox titles, to employees. But usually after a two week -- at least -- delay from the commercial launch.

With this in mind, a couple of months ago I pre-ordered Halo 2 from EBGames. After all, two weeks was obviously far too long to wait to get Halo 2.

Then today, two things happened: the company store at work announced that they'll have copies of Halo 2 starting tomorrow morning, the first day of its release -- and EBGames sent me an email saying that they had shipped my order.

It would still seem like a simple choice (wait for the pre-order to arrive), save for one alarming detail: when I click on the 'order status' link, the UPS.com site tells me that the tracking number provided by EBGames.com isn't actually valid. This doesn't seem good. Maybe I'll just buy it tomorrow at the company store, just in case.

Can you tell that I am excited about this game?

Got it

My copy of Halo 2 showed up this morning. Yay :)

My Xbox Live gamertag is DonovanM. I'm sure I'll be online with Halo 2 from time to time ;)

Halo 2

I finished the Halo 2 single player campaign. Good fun. I've read lots of complaints on the web about the ending. The ending wasn't nearly as definite as the ending of Halo, but it didn't bother me that much. It clearly sets up a Halo 3 at some future date, which doesn't seem like a bad thing.

The AI is definitely better, for both enemies and allies. The Covenant will leap over obstacles to get to you, they will flank you, they will regroup. The Marines you fight with now live more than 3 seconds. Also, they can drive now. In Halo 1, you could drive vehicles, the Covenant aliens could drive, but Marines would never drive. Now you can hop on the gunner turret of the Warthog and let the Marines drive you around while you shoot things up.

Multiplayer is clearly where Halo 2 will get its staying power. Being able to play online on Xbox Live is great. The matchmaking system they have for joining a game is really nice. Basically, you can pick what kind of game you want to play, and it finds one. As you play more, your level goes up, and the system tries to match you against people that are close to your level. It's that simple. Almost every other online game I've ever played has had some kind of server browser, where you scroll through a list of available games and pick one. That system works, but NOT having to do that is great. After all, you're trying to play a game, not search for one.

Computer-savvy rednecks, rejoice

CNN reports on one mans plan to offer remote-control hunting via a web site.

The web site, according to creator John Underwood, will allow you to sign up and remotely control a camera and rifle, so you can remotely shoot deer, antelope, and wild pigs.

My favorite quote in the article:

"We were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said 'If you just had a gun for that.' A little light bulb went off in my head," he said.

I think that says it all.

SBC and Microsoft IPTV

"SBC taps Microsoft for TV software"

More on SBC and IPTV

For more on SBC and IPTV, check out SBC's page, complete with a link to a Flash demo of "some of the planned features and future capabilities of SBC IPTV."

And for the ranting, check out Slashdot.

Once more into the breach

We're trying again with the adoption.

Earlier this year, we had been matched with a couple for five months, planning to adopt their baby through an open adoption. The day before the birth, they called to say they had changed their mind.

In mid-September, we met another birthmother, this one in Salt Lake City, UT, and matched with her. We've been out there to visit twice, and talk to her once a week. She's due on December 31 -- five weeks from today.

So, with any luck at all, in another month or so, we'll have a baby. We really hope so. Wish us luck.

Paintball as video game??

So this I don't get -- there's now a Paintball video game that you can buy for the Xbox.

Paintball is a game that people play to simulate real combat with "bullets" that don't actually inflict real harm.

Video games are a way of simulating real combat...

So a video game that lets you play paintball is ... baffling.

Happiness is a Wraith tank

I love playing defense with the Wraith tank on Waterworks in Halo 2. I've gotten better at aiming the gun, and am getting better and better at using the speed boost to run over enemies -- on foot, in Ghosts, in Warthogs, whatever. I went 14-1 on one game -- and the one death I had was when someone jumped on top of my tank, popped the hatch, and punched me out of the tank.

This is the genius of Halo 2.